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The Changing Tide of West Virginia Politics
ANNA MOORE
Photo by WV Legislative Photography .
The year is 2000 . Texas ’ republican Governor George W . Bush was just elected president by a narrow margin defeating democrat incumbent Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee . Republican Cecil Underwood is nearing the end of his term as governor in West Virginia where the democrats hold a 28-6 super majority in the Senate and a 75-25 super majority in the House . Republican Shelley Moore Capito just narrowly defeated democrat lawyer Jim Humphreys in the 2nd District congressional race . Was this the start of a political shift in the historically blue Mountain State ? Hoppy Kercheval , radio host of Metro- News Talkline , believes it was .
“ Bush campaigned hard in West Virginia in the closing weeks , while Gore ignored the state . Bush carried West Virginia , becoming the first non-incumbent republican presidential candidate
to win West Virginia since Herbert Hoover in 1928 ,” says Kercheval . “ Notably , if Gore had won West Virginia , he would have had enough electoral votes to win the election and Florida would not have mattered .”
Kercheval also considers Capito ’ s victory as breaking the democratic stronghold on congressional seats as most of the state ’ s congressional leaders were democrat from 1958 until her term began in 2001 .
“ Nationally , the Democratic Party was trending further to the left , while the influence of labor unions in West Virginia politics was diminishing . Moderate to conservative democratic voters , including Christian conservatives in West Virginia , felt they were being left behind ,” he says . “ The Republican Party rebuilt during the early 2000s . It worked hard to recruit candidates and win elections . Capito was a major factor in that effort . The tide continued to turn , as republicans increased voter registration and picked up seats in the House and Senate .”
A lot can happen in 23 years . In 2023 , republicans have what Kercheval refers to as super-duper majorities , as they hold 88 of the 100 seats in the state House and 31 of 34 seats in the state Senate . The governor , secretary of state , attorney general , auditor and treasurer are also notably republican . Three of four congressional seats remain republican . With this much red influence , what does that mean for the future of West Virginia politics and how will that impact future elections and legislation ?
From around the 1930s through the 1990s , West Virginia was a recognizably blue state . Some say this blue wave was created by national politics of the time .
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